MEDIA RELEASE
9 December 2009

Civil Unions Irrelevant Five Years On

Family First NZ says that five years on from the passing of the Civil Unions legislation, the evidence shows that the legislation has been a completely unnecessary piece of social engineering.

“The civil unions legislation has proved to be a complete white elephant and is evidence of social engineering being of no productive use,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ, “This is despite the claims by the previous Labour government that it would supposedly strengthen human rights and support the choices of apparently 300,000 people who were not married but lived in stable relationships.”

According to Statistics NZ data, there have been only 1,646 civil unions registered in the 4 years between April 2005 and March 2009. These comprised 1,330 same-sex unions (594 male and 736 female), 312 opposite-sex unions and just four transfers from marriage.

“Over the same period, there were around 85,000 marriages.”

“NZ’ers didn’t feel discriminated against, and didn’t have a problem with the religious connotations of marriage, which are not compulsory anyway. But couples are still choosing marriage and that’s a good thing.”

“The huge amount of energy spent on trying to concoct a need for civil unions and debating it through parliament would have been better spent on developing policies which promote, encourage and strengthen marriage, and to minimise the likelihood of divorce, thereby providing the best and safest environment for children to be raised.”

“The potential legal issues surrounding next-of-kin status and other legal issues relating to non-marriage relationships could have been easily solved without undermining the special status of marriage.”

“According to the latest Census, more than 2/3’rds of NZ’ers in a partnership have chosen marriage as opposed to de facto or civil union arrangements. Tragically, the law now makes virtually no distinction between these different groups, with marriage no longer having the unique or special status it deserves. In fact, there is effectively a ‘marriage tax’.”

“Marriage is an important social good with a smorgasbord of positive outcomes for children and adults alike. Governments should focus on, and encourage and support what works,” says Mr McCoskrie.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>